Sanchez makes Stanton's solo homer stand in 1-0 Marlins' win

Here are the pitch velocities Mike Stanton saw from Livan Hernandez in his seventh inning at-bat Saturday: 85, 64, 87, 68, 87. It was one of the few occasions a Marlins batter didn't return to the dugout with his timing in a discombobulating state.

Down 0-2, Stanton worked a 2-2 count and squared up the fifth offering, lining it over the left-center field wall to give Anibal Sanchez the lone run he needed in a series-clinching 1-0 win at Nationals Park.

"Stanton hits the ball as hard as anybody in major league baseball," said Nationals manager Jim Riggleman, who's watched the slugger bang six homers in eight games here. "It's amazing. He hits balls that look like the trajectory of a single and they go out of the ballpark."

With his second long ball in as many games, Stanton became the eighth player in franchise history to homer in a 1-0 victory. The last to do it was Cody Ross in a July 19, 2006 win over the Nationals. Sanchez happened to start that game as well and has been on the mound in four of the club's past five 1-0 wins (three against the Nationals) dating to 2006.

Coming off a career-high 11 strikeouts over seven shutout innings against the Nationals in South Florida, Sanchez gave up three hits, walked two and struck out nine over eight innings Saturday. The Nationals went hitless off him in their four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Jayson Werth accounted for his team's second hit in the seven with a leadoff double. Sanchez struck him out his first two turns. All-time, he's 3-for-25 (.120) with 17 strikeouts against Sanchez, who also improved to 7-0 with a 1.99 ERA in 16 starts (99 2/3 innings) against the Nationals.

"It's an eclectic mix," Werth said. "For whatever reason, he's had success against us. I know for me personally it just doesn't match up. I feel like I'm right on him, but I'm not. [He's] just one of those guys."

Sanchez retired 17 of the first 18 batters and 14 in a row before a Roger Bernadina walk in the sixth. He recorded at least one strikeout in all but one of his eight innings and now averages 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 2011. His career mark entering this season: 6.9.

"I'm trying to keep my pitches low, especially for strikeouts," Sanchez said. "The slider, the curve and the change are going to help as long as I'm keeping the ball low. I don't try to strike out too many hitters because I want to stay in the game, but I've had opportunities.

"I tried to attack and did the same way as last time. I threw everything in any situation. My slider helped me a lot, my changeup, and my curve was good [Saturday], better than last time, and helped me out with a third pitch for a strike even late in the count."

Three of Sanchez's seven wins against the Nationals have come at Nationals Park, where he has a 0.83 ERA in five starts (32 2/3 innings).

As for Stanton, all he's done in eight games here is hit .469 (15-for-32) with six homers, 11 RBI and a 1.697 on-base plus slugging percentage.